I was born in a cottage hospital in Richmond before they built the shopping malls and the sprawling hillside subdivisions. Growing up, we roamed unsupervised in search of adventure in the back paddocks and the blue hills. We cycled to the local rivers, swam at the beach, and without a TV, we lived for the Saturday matinee.
In the early seventies I did the traditional Kiwi OE, including a Greyhound bus trip around the United States by myself naively in search of love. I lived in Sydney, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Norway and turned twenty-five travelling in Marrakech.
Before I became a writer, I was a secretary, a nurse-aid, a waitress, a chamber maid, and latterly, briefly a book seller. I started and jointly owned a successful recruitment company with my husband, for 17 years, before spending 21 weeks in Timaru completing a creative writing course run by Owen Marshall. A fire was lit. I went on to complete the Advanced Diploma in Creative Writing at Whitiriea and a BA (English Literature) at Victoria University. I shared my passion for writing as a volunteer, once a week, at a local women’s prison over a period of 8 years.
Since then I have published three novels, poetry, short fiction, essays, travel writing and flash fiction (Bibliography).
After selling our recruitment company, I retrained as an ESOL teacher and completed CELTA. I now teach English to migrants and refugees. In 2013, I spent three months as a volunteer teaching English in Siem Reap in 2013.
In my leisure time, I am an avid reader belonging to two book groups. I love to travel, cook, garden, swim, kayak, and most of all to spend time with my granddaughters.
In the early seventies I did the traditional Kiwi OE, including a Greyhound bus trip around the United States by myself naively in search of love. I lived in Sydney, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Norway and turned twenty-five travelling in Marrakech.
Before I became a writer, I was a secretary, a nurse-aid, a waitress, a chamber maid, and latterly, briefly a book seller. I started and jointly owned a successful recruitment company with my husband, for 17 years, before spending 21 weeks in Timaru completing a creative writing course run by Owen Marshall. A fire was lit. I went on to complete the Advanced Diploma in Creative Writing at Whitiriea and a BA (English Literature) at Victoria University. I shared my passion for writing as a volunteer, once a week, at a local women’s prison over a period of 8 years.
Since then I have published three novels, poetry, short fiction, essays, travel writing and flash fiction (Bibliography).
After selling our recruitment company, I retrained as an ESOL teacher and completed CELTA. I now teach English to migrants and refugees. In 2013, I spent three months as a volunteer teaching English in Siem Reap in 2013.
In my leisure time, I am an avid reader belonging to two book groups. I love to travel, cook, garden, swim, kayak, and most of all to spend time with my granddaughters.
